History

History

While today it is a truly independent company, Sisvel has deep roots in the consumer electronics industry since its incorporation in 1982 as a joint venture among the principal Italian manufacturers of television sets.

1953

Indesit and the Italian economic boom

Sisvel’s story begins with Italy’s post World War II economic boom. Thanks to the country’s growth, Indesit rapidly became a leader in the manufacturing of white goods, particularly refrigerators. Seizing on this early success, Indesit’s visionary founder and CEO, Armando Campioni, charted a course to expand Indesit’s reach into the brown goods market by manufacturing televisions of the highest technical and aesthetic quality. To realize his vision, he formed a R&D division within Indesit dedicated to advancing innovation in the television industry.

1970

Launch and decline of Indesit’s TV industry

The significant commitment to advanced R&D produced an excellent product. Unfortunately, Indesit’s television business faced several insurmountable obstacles in gaining market penetration. Rather than continue down an unsustainable path, Indesit quit the television industry to focus on its core white goods business. As part of the ensuing reorganization in the early 80s, Indesit divested all its consumer electronics assets, including its extensive portfolio of television-related patents.

1982

Sisvel’s foundation

As the head of Indesit’s patent and trademark department, Roberto Dini was well aware of the inherent value of Indesit’s portfolio and so he persuaded three of the principal Italian consumer electronics companies (including Seleco, Imperial and Brionvega) to collectively acquire Indesit’s innovative television-related patents consisting of more than two hundred patent families. Sisvel was founded by Roberto Dini to manage this large patent portfolio.

1983

Creation of a new business model

From managing Indesit’s acquired patents and defending its member companies, Sisvel rapidly became a tool to protect the Italian market from low-priced products made in the Far East, which used technology created in Italy without paying any fees to the inventors.

1990

The evolution of Sisvel’s licensing activities

The beginning of the 1990s marked the start of Sisvel’s major licensing activities. The main licensees were Korean and Japanese companies and, later European television manufacturers. During these years, Sisvel expanded its field of activity by developing and licensing its own patent portfolio.

1996

Start of third party patent licensing activity

Sisvel was so successful in managing Indesit’s patents that major international players in the consumer electronics industry, such as Philips, Orange (formerly France Télécom), TDF, and IRT, turned to Sisvel to license some of their most valuable intellectual property portfolios based on digital audio technology.

1997

From an Italian company, to an international Group

With the growth of its global activities, Sisvel expanded its international footprint by opening its first international office on the outskirts of Washington D.C., rapidly followed by offices in Asia (Hong Kong and Tokyo) and strengthening its presence in Europe. In addition to a Luxembourg head office, the Group opened offices in Germany and the United Kingdom.

2000

Sisvel Today

Sisvel is organized as a multinational company with 8 subsidiaries on 3 continents. Its headquarters are in Luxembourg and subsidiaries are located in Italy (None Torinese), Germany (Stuttgart), UK (London), US (Washington DC metro area), Japan (Tokyo) and China (Hong Kong). The Group is developing, promoting, and managing licensing programs in key technological areas such as wireless communications (i.e. LTE, Wi-Fi, Wireless, 3G); digital video and display technologies (i.e. DVB-T, DVB-T2); audio and video coding/decoding (i.e. MPEG, H.264) and broadband technology (i.e. DSL).

Highlights

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